Bayonet closure for container



March 18, 1969 J. E. METIVIER 3,433,385

' BAYONET CLOSURE FOR CONTAINER Filed Sept. 5, 196'? mu HI! H nvvsrvron J. Emile METIVIER ATTORNEY United States Patent Oflice 3,433,385 Patented Mar. 18, 1969 3,433,385 BAYONET CLOSURE FOR CONTAINER Joseph Emile Metivier, St-Damien, Bellechasse, Quebec, Canada Filed Sept. 5, 1967,-Ser. No. 665,341 US. Cl. 220-40 Int. Cl. B65d 41/06 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The combination of a container and a cover having their edges shaped to form a bayonet closure. The cover has an arc-shaped rim with inwardly pending L-shaped tongues and the container has an L-shaped rim with outwardly projecting L-shaped tongues adapted to grip the inward tongues. A sealing ring may be added between the cover and the container.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The present application is directed to a bayonet closure for locking a cover on a container.

The invention is particularly directed to containers for which a tight closure is required. The present closure is particularly well adapted for improving the protection of the contained products.

Furthermore, the present closure is adapted to prevent the liquid from flowing out of the container. In addition, the closure is expected to improve the retention of gas, vapor, smoke or odors which are particularly undesirable from garbage cans.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The closure according to the invention is of the bayonet type adapted to close a cover on a container. The container has a circular section, an L-shaped rim around the upper edge thereof, ahplurality of L-shaped tongues projecting outwardly near the upper edge of the rim. The circular cover comprises a central plate surrounded by a peripheral arc-shaped or reversed U-shaped ring, and a plurality of L-shaped tongues inwardly pending from the outer and lower flange of the arc-shaped ring. The L-shaped rim of the container is adapted to nest the periphery of the central plate and the internal flange of the arc-shaped ring. The tongues of the cover and the container are adapted to be adjacent one to the other when the cover is placed over the container. The cover is locked on the container by the rotation of one over the other.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective explosive view of a part of the container, a sealing ring and a cover,

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a segment of the cover and the container before they are assembled one over the other,

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a segment of the cover and the container during the locking operation, and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the edge of the cover interlocked with the edge of the container.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT FIG. 1 shows a circular container 10 having at its upper edge an outwardly projecting L-shaped rim 12. The rim 12 is constituted of a vertical part 14 and a horizontal part 16 (FIG. 4). Tongues 18, having a reversed L-shape, are uniformly spaced around the rim 12 and are constituted by a short horizontal surface 20 connected to a short vertical surface 22.

4 Claims The cover 24 is made of a central plate 26 surrounded by a reinforcing groove 28 and an arc-shaped or a reversed U-shaped ring 30. The ring 30 is constituted by an inner flange 32, an upper flange 34 and an outer flange 36. Along the lower edge of the outer flange 36, a plurality of -L-shaped tongues 38 project inwardly. The tongues 38 are uniformly spaced around the ring 30, the spacing being the same as for the tongues 18 around the container.

The ring 30 of the cover and the rim 12 of the container are dimensioned in such a way that the central plate 26 may exist on the horizontal surface 16 of the rim 12 and that the inner flange 32 of the cover falls in contact with the vertical part 14 of the rim 12. This contact permitsa sea-led closure of the container.

In order to improve the seal between the cover and the container, a sealing ring 44 made of a flexible and resilient material is located in the grooves 40 and 42 foreseen in the part 14 of the rim 12 and the flange 32 of the ring 30. The sealing ring 44, due to its elasticity, will be held by the cover 24 before the latter is introduced in the container. As shown in FIGURE 4, the sealing ring 44 comprises in section a bead and a tail 50 which are substantially representing a comma.

Furthermore, the vertical surface 22 of the tongue 18 is preferably dimensioned so as to take rest on the vertical part of the tongue 38. This contact increases the friction between the cover and the container and prevents them to unlock.

Although the construction of the container, the cover and the sealing ring are not limited to any particular material, a plastic such as poly-styrene or polyethylene are preferred for the container and the cover while a material such as of the vinyl type having a certain elasticity and flexibility is preferred for the sealing ring.

In order to still further improve the seal, an annular projection 46 the surrounds the inner surface of the upper flange 34 of the arc-shaped ring 30 and contacts another annular projection 48 which essentially consists of the upper part of the vertical part 14 of the rim 12 of the container.

The operation for closing the cover on the container is very simple. The sealing ring 44 having a diameter slightly smaller than the diameter of the flange 32 is stretched to engage the groove 42 formed in the flange 32. The tail part 50 of the sealing ring 44 projects towards the bottom of the container. The cover is then placed over the container as illustrated in FIGURE 2, that is, with the tongues 18 being staggered with the tongues 38 of the cover. The cover is then first pushed in the direction of the arrows A shown in FIGURE 2 and then the cover is rotated relative to the container in the direction of the arrow b shown in FIGURE 3. As explained above, the seal is obtained by the contact of the plate 26 with the horizontal parts 16, the annular projections 46 and 48 and by the tightening of the sealing ring 44 between the flange 32 and the vertical part 14.

Iclaim:

1. A bayonet closure to lock a cover on a container in which the cover and the container have a circular section, the said closure comprising an L-shaped rim surrounding the upper edge of the container, a plurality of L-shaped tongues projecting outwardly at the upper part of the said rim, the cover comprising a central plate having at its periphery an arc-shaped ring, a plurality of L-shaped tongues inwardly projecting from the outer flange of the arc-shaped ring, the tongues of the cover and the container being adapted to lockingly engage each other and provide a vertical thrust between the horizontal portion of the L-shaped rim of the container and the edge of the central plate, an annular portion surrounding the upper part of the rim of the container and a second annular projection surrounding the upper flange of the arc-shaped ring, the said two annular projections being contiguous and providing a horizontal thrust between the inner flange of the arc-shaped ring and the vertical part of the L-shaped rim of the container.

2. A closure according to claim 1, comprising a circular sealing ring made of a resilient material located between the vertical part of the rim of the container and the internal flange of the arc-shaped ring.

3. A closure as recited in claim 2, wherein the said vertical part of the rim of the container and the said internal flange of the arc-shaped ring are each provided References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2/ 1927 Dowling 220-4O 6/1946 Bevins 220- 40 JAMES B. MARBERT, Primary Examiner. 

